Frames and supports in 15th and 16th-century Southern Netherlandish painting

LARGE WORKS 123 13. Van Asperen de Boer et al. 1983, 39-50. 14. Verougstraete-Marcq et al. 1981, 119-129. 15. Veronee-Verhaegen 1973. 16. Panofsky 1971, 465 and pl. 242. Around 1438, Rogier van der Weyden painted the Descent from the Cross (Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado) (fig. 68c). This large altarpiece probably had wings. The traces on its back of an auxiliary inner frame containing cross-bracing, attached only to the outer frame and not the panel – a construction that has now disappeared as well as the primary frame itself 13 – reveal a desire to produce an assembly capable of withstanding the weight of the wings. In addition, the Edelheere Triptych ( Leuven, SP , no. 1 ), a copy produced in 1443, includes wings whose iconography – apart from the donors – could have been inspired by the lost wings of Van der Weyden’s work. 14 The raised centre of the Descent from the Cross altarpiece is considerably narrower than that of the upper altarpiece in Ghent (fig. 68b). To the detriment of the proportions but to the benefit of the balance between the carrying and non-carrying parts of the joinery, this reduction in size of the raised central part produced a corresponding reduction in the raised parts of the wings. When in 1446-1448 Van der Weyden painted the Polyptych of the Last Judgement 15 (Beaune, Musée de l’Hôtel-Dieu), a new solution was adopted (fig. 68d). The raised central part is now covered by two small wings that are directly hinged to it, thus considerably lightening the large wings and permitting a return to better proportions of the raised portion. This solution was to be adopted in many late 15th century altarpieces. Perhaps it is necessary to introduce into the evolution of the shapes a type of composition where the left and right hand extremities of the central panel are raised above the centre. A drawing attributed to the Rogier van der Weyden workshop, Christ’s Body Carried to the Tomb (Paris, Louvre, Département des Arts graphiques, inv. no. 20666), represents an altarpiece of this form. 16 The raised portion of the wings, situated against the central panel, were better carried in this way. The closer the centre of gravity of the wing from the central weight-bearing part of an altarpiece, the smaller the lever effect. These variations in shape are related to the problem of the weight of the wings. When there are no hinged wings, there is no difficulty in producing a wide central panel, raised either in the centre or at the sides like the Altarpiece of the Seven Sacraments by Rogier van der Weyden and his workshop (Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, inv. nos. 393-394-395). Other 15th century works attest to the concerns for the construction and the fear of the shape of the wings making them excessively heavy. The thickness of the boards also played a role here, and we see the boards becoming thinner and lighter over time. The joiner producing the support for the Scenes from the St Barbara Legend (Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. no. 6149), the base painting of the Master of the Legend of St Barbara, provides a rectangular-shaped piece of joinery,